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A Win for Love and Marriage Equality in Rowan County as Kim Davis Goes to Jail

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:12 pm

With Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis behind bars, same sex couples began obtaining marriage licenses in earnest on Friday. William Smith, Jr. and James Yates, a gay couple who had been refused licenses and turned away four times by Davis, filed their filing fee and became the first gay couple in the county to get a marriage license. They were followed shortly thereafter by a second same-sex couple.

With Davis in jail on contempt of court charges, deputy clerk Brian Mason issued the licenses politely, congratulating the couples with a friendly handshake. In Rowan County, the simple act of doing his job appeared almost heroic under the circumstances.

Outside the courthouse, competing groups clashed for attention with same-sex marriage supporters proclaiming “Love won!”, while one gay marriage opponent yelled versus from the Bible referencing Sodom and Gomorrah. Others stood silently.

Kim Davis’ husband, Joe Davis spoke to reporters on the scene, insisting that his wife will continue to defy the law, stating:

She will stay in there for however long it takes. She will not back down. She’ll never resign. Nope.

Joe Davis added:

We don’t hate nobody. We just want the same rights they have. They say, ‘We’re gonna make you accept us whether you want to or not.’ Well, we don’t want all this forced on us.

Mr. Davis thinks he and Kim just want the same rights as gay couples have. Perhaps he is a bit confused, because allowing gay couples to marry is not granting them special rights, it is giving them equal rights. Furthermore, in no jurisdiction do LGBTQ clerks have the authority to deny straight couples marriage licenses. However, like many evangelical conservatives, Kim and Joe Davis believe that as righteous God-fearing Christians their rights should trump everybody else’s. Then they cry persecution because they are not granted a special dispensation by the state to continue to practice their brand of religious bigotry.

Fortunately deputy clerk Brian Mason decided to do his job on Friday morning, and Rowan County Kentucky began issuing its first marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

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Keith Brekhus

Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick's successful re-election bid in Arizona's 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.